20 Years
Episode 1 of Now and Then begins in Miami 2000. A group of friends go out partying together, all of which is filmed by Dani. Each of the kids talk about where they see each other in 20 years, with Alejandro finishing things off by hoping that they’ll all be together. That happens to be a ominous bit of foreshadowing, as Alejandro ends up passing out. ..
As the teens hurry to take him to the hospital, they get involved in a horrible car accident. We see the aftermath of the crash, as all the kids are blood-soaked and shocked over what’s transpired.
The dream begins with a phone call from someone unknown, asking the quintet to attend a school reunion. Each of the kids receive a text message inviting them to go, but they can’t seem to remember why they’re being asked. They think it might be something fun, but when they arrive at the reunion, they realize that it’s not what they were expecting. The other kids from their grade are all grown up and changed, and they don’t recognize them either. They think it might be coincidence that all of these kids received text messages inviting them to attend a school reunion 20 years later, but there’s no way that could be true.
The reunion of the old political party members is a moment of joy for many. Marcos, who now works as a doctor, has a wife called Isabel and seems to be doing well for himself. Meanwhile, Pedro is a politician and is also married to Ana, who happens to be another of the kids from that party. When these three show up at the reunion, they’re joined by Anita and Dani who both rock up soon after. All of these guys received the message, with Sofia showing up very late to the game. Interestingly, it would appear that there are some tensions between Ana and Sofia.
On Friday, the group of journalists gather at a hotel in Barcelona to hand over 1 million euros each. They’re all rattled by this, with most unable to actually pay this extortionate amount. However, Anita claims that they could go to prison if what happened is leaked. The group works hard to rustle up the funds.
As the rookie investigator begins his work, he comes across an open car door at the scene of a car accident. As he looks inside, he sees two people dead and another injured. The Rookie Investigator quickly realizes that this is not a simple accident – there is more to it than meets the eye.
The kids are questioned over what happened to Alejandro, given he died in this car accident after driving them all. The stories are a little inconsistent and it’s especially suspicious that everyone seems to remember the exact time (that being 2am) but not other details like who rang a supposed taxi that night. The investigation soon turns back to the deceased, where it would appear that Alejandro’s toxicology report is showing a high level of ecstasy in the deceased’s body, and a burst blood vessel also seems to reinforce the idea that he actually died before the accident. The evidence of this seems to be recorded too, on Dani’s camcorder.
Marcos and his lawyer meet with everyone who is willing to pay the ransom, and all of them show up at the scheduled drop-off. They all put their money together for the drop-off, and everything goes according to plan.
That night, Marco finds out that the blackmailer is actually Daniela. Interestingly, we cut from this scene with Pedro across to a crime scene where Daniela is found in her apartment dead on the floor. Marco is on the sofa, and it just so happens that the investigator in charge of this case is the rookie investigator from 20 years back too.
Daniela’s room is filled with tapes. Dani claimed that she didn’t make any copies, but the investigators find a whole stack of them. Remember when Dani said that she didn’t want to be interviewed? Well, that’s also a lie. She copied the tapes but never actually told the others.
The Episode Review
Now & Then is a show that feels like it’s going to be a twisty little thriller, although one can’t help but shake the very evident I Know What You Did Last Summer vibes. The premise is very similar to one of my favorite shows, right down to the car accident and a bunch of intoxicated teens. We don’t know an awful lot about these characters right now, but the extended run-time for each of these chapters is sure to change that. It would appear that we’re going to dive deeper into these characters as the episodes progress, with lots of ensuing drama in the process.
We’ve got two murders- one in the present and one in the past- and seeing how all of this plays out is going to be intriguing. For now though, it leaves everything wide open for the rest of the season.
